As soon as it was revealed Anders Behring Breivik was not a Muslim, and not part of some jihadist gang, the knives were out. Because, it was claimed, he was a fundamentalist Christian. Please!

The main photograph of the man used by the media showed him dressed as a freemason.

I know journalists are pretty dumb these days, but it doesn't take a theologian to realize freemasonry is anathema to fundamentalist Christianity, as well as Roman Catholicism.

In his personal manifesto the killer wrote: "Regarding my personal relationship with God, I guess I'm not an excessively religious man. I am first and foremost a man of logic. If you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and God then you are a religious Christian. Myself and many more like me do not necessarily have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and God."

He also quoted various atheist philosophers when he posted on blogs, was supportive of the gay community, hadn't attended church in 17 years, and seems to have had no connection to organized Christianity.

But that did not hold back the hysterical Christian-bashers out there.

The same happened, and still happens, with Timothy McVeigh. The Oklahoma killer was an atheist, who even in his final letter before execution screamed against God. No matter, he is still said to be a Christian.

Many of us assumed the Norway attack was the work of Islamic terrorists.

Actually, how could we not?

There have been thousands of Islamist attacks since 9/11, including mass slaughter in London and Madrid, and attempted attacks in Stockholm and Glasgow.

Anti-Semitic attacks by Muslims are now so great in Scandinavia Jewish parents in Denmark do not send their children to public schools, and almost all of the Jews in Malmo, Sweden's third largest city, left for their own safety.

The context of Norway is various Muslim fundamentalist groups promised terror attacks for some time now. Their reasons were Norway supported the war in Afghanistan, insisted on prosecuting an Islamic war criminal, and refused to ban a cartoon some Muslims found to be offensive.

Oh, and they are sort of Christian and certainly western ­ meaning decadent, tolerant of gays, believe in gender quality, civil rights, and all that sort of stuff.

Islamic groups also claimed responsibility for the attack as soon as it happened.

The shock of all this is it was not an Islamist group that committed the crime, and I assure you they will commit many more such monstrosities in the future.

We will not, though, see copycat incidents from Norwegians who live with their mums, wear aprons, and are insane.

Oh, and when another Islamist attack does occur, the same people now screaming "Christian" will do all in their power to deny or disguise the religion of the perpetrators.

I weep for those poor people in Norway, but I also weep for a world that refuses to rise from its denial.

I know almost nothing about Freemasons, and I ask this strictly from a Point of Information standpoint: aren't there European Masonic groups which are quite different from the typical American ones? What I mean is, Continental Masonic groups (not related to the one you belong to) which tend more toward agnostic/deist rituals and clandestine political involvement?

As I said, I know little about this. I brought up these points once with a U.S. Mason who assured me that the Continental lodges are not "regular" Masons, implying that they are "irregulars" whose philosophy and activities he could not vouch for.

The liberal media doesn’t know the difference between Lucifer and Jesus. It’s all Christianity as far as they are concerned, and any kook who isn’t a Muslim is a Christian fundamentalist. That’s the extent of liberal intellectualism on the matter.

There are indeed differing variations of Freemasons in Europe, sometimes several within a country (France being the most confusing, with over a dozen grand lodges, including female and “co-ed” groups). Norway, Iceland and Sweden are unusual in that, while they are recognized as regular by the majority of mainstream Freemason grand lodges around the world, the dominant grand lodges in these countries require prospective members to state that they are Christian. That’s not true in the overwhelming majority of Masonic groups in the rest of the world, where candidates are simply asked if they have a belief in a “Supreme Being” and the details of their religious beliefs are considered private.

Not that pesky details about faith and morality seemed to bother Breivik.

The Christian-only variant in Scandinavian Freemasonry goes back to the late 1700s Illuminati scares, and developed as a way to let royal families become the titular heads of Masonry in those countries, along with their existing positions as heads of their state churches. But, as with the “Breivik is a fundamentalist Christian” style of reporting, the press can’t be bothered with actually trying to do anything but plaster surface labels on the story. The same is true of the superficial Knight Templar connection being written about by people who haven’t the foggiest idea what they are saying.

11
posted on 07/30/2011 1:43:42 PM PDT
by Hodapp
("O Judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason.")

Breivik was a member of a lodge under the Grand Lodge of Norway, not the United Grand Lodge of England. As soon as the photos were published of him in his apron from his Facebook page, the Grand Master of Norway did some digging and verified he was indeed a member in Oslo. He officially expelled Breivik that same weekend.

13
posted on 07/30/2011 1:48:55 PM PDT
by Hodapp
("O Judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason.")

Most of what I know about the Masons comes from reading War and Peace (one of the main characters gets initiated into a Masonic lodge) but I don't know how similar early 19th-century Russian Masons were to early 21st-century Norwegian Masons.

I've been to a couple of visitations which included a Masonic service for the deceased. Ironically, one of the men was a Catholic (but he had been a Mason before becoming a Catholic). I didn't notice anything in the service which could be considered controversial or offensive to Christians who weren't Masons.

Your essay reflects a limited understanding of Freemasonry, in particular the variety of forms it takes around the world. Firstly, there are many fundamentalist Christian as well as Catholic Freemasons. Secondly, Scandinavian Freemasonry is an ultra Christian form of Freemasonry, so the theory that this mad man’s rationale was not based at least in part influenced by some militant extremist form of Christianity cannot be so easily dismissed.

Anti-Semitic attacks by Muslims are now so great in Scandinavia Jewish parents in Denmark do not send their children to public schools, and almost all of the Jews in Malmo, Sweden's third largest city, left for their own safety.

Of course we thought it was radical Muslims - why not considering the above facts... But Janet, the TSA and the MSM are ONLY looking for 'lone wolf's' - and only white Christian ones at that... the feeding frenzy didn't start until they thought they their dream terrorist... What does that say about them? What does it say about their hatred of conservatives?

My local paper worked the term 'blond' into the first sentence on the front page above the fold...

Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.